Is this the ultimate crossover? The AeroMobil 3.0 is a road-legal car that flies. It might be a prototype but this ‘roadable aircraft’ showed its airborne prowess at Vienna’s Pioneers Festival. For Štefan Klein, chief designer and co-founder of Slovakian firm AeroMobil, this is more than just soaring above jams: it was inspired by his student dreams to escape from behind the Iron Curtain.
At 6m-long and 2.3m-wide – with the scissor-action wings stowed! – the claim that the carbonfibre-clad, two-seater AeroMobil fits in a ‘standard parking space’ is probably stretching things. But it can be refuelled at a petrol station and driven on the road, yet packs a 430-mile airborne range. You don’t even need a proper runway: the AeroMobil’s ‘variable angle of attack’ wings require just 200m of flat ground to take off, and only 50m to land.
But if a flying car runs out of fuel, it’s going down: that’s why AeroMobil talks of ‘full-vehicle parachute capability’ to float the composite and steel capsule to terra firma.
How it flies
The AeroMobil 3.0 is pushed through the air by a Rotax 912 engine driving the rear-mounted prop, and born aloft on carbonfibre wings that unfold to a width of 8.3m.
Take-off speed is 90mph, and you need to keep it above 40mph or it’ll fall out of the sky.
The Rotax 912 engine that powers the AeroMobil to 124mph in the air and 100mph on the ground needs to be highly dependable – it’s seen action in aircaft since 1984.
How it drives
On the ground the propeller is disconnected and the Rotax 912 engine powers the front wheels. Despite a modest 100bhp, the 1352cc four-cylinder will supposedly hit 100mph in this guise – and return 35mpg.
It transforms more convincingly than 007 villain Scaramanga’s AMC Matador, but the AeroMobil is no closer to commercial reality. It would cost several hundred thousand euros.